We hide in cocoons, when we could be free as butterflies. Peripheral
evidence suggests that skin-only is superior to our tomb-like textile
traps, especially for the brain.

1. The Clothes You Were Born In. Pediatricians agree that
infants thrive with a daily dose of naked time because
the unhampered range of motion aids brain development. Recent
discoveries reveal that the plastic brain changes
and develops throughout our entire lives. Neuroplasticity pioneer
Michael M. Merzenich believes, everything you can see happen
in a young brain can happen in an older brain. This indicates
that naked time is equally valuable for humans of
any age, especially the elderly.

2. Barefoot Medicine. Going shoeless is now recognized
as an anti-Alzheimers, brain-boosting activity because the
sole sensation entices your brain into growing extra, efficient
neuron connections. Merzenich believes our brains decline if we
limit the sensory feedback from our feet. He advocates
walking barefoot (to improve balance, posture, and co-ordination
functions in the vestibulocerebellum.) Dr. Norman Doidge (author
of The Brain That Changes Itself) concurs that skipping shoes
will increase brain flexibility and youthfulness, and many podiatrists
now advise going barefoot as much as possible. Bare feet are todays
prescription. Tomorrows elixir will take the next step:
Bare Body.

4. Socialization. Self-actualization proponent Abraham
Maslow believed Nudism... is itself a kind of therapy.
Health benefits of social nudity include stress reduction, satiation
of curiosity about the human body, reduction of porn addiction,
a sense of full-body integration and developing a wholesome attitude
about the opposite gender. Research at the University of Northern
Iowa discovered that nudists have significantly higher body self-acceptance.
Another study by Lawrence Casher concluded that teens at a New
York nudist camp were extraordinarily well-adjusted, happy,
and thoughtful.

In addition to all this, clothes are a huge money/time-suck with
shopping, laundry, taking on-and-off, stashing in closets and
dressers, plus gazillions of hours wondering what so-and-so looks
like with their undies removed. Americans spend at least $900
million annually on bathing suits alone; our carbon footprint
would shrink like a wool sweater if fabric was no longer manufactured.

So... is the future going to be full frontal? Will the post-Singularity
planet be stripped, once climate is controlled by nanobots? Will
everyone choose to be nude, strutting around like the Nuba dancers
and wrestlers of Leni Reifenstahl? Trends point to a time where
there wont be a stitch to worry about. Fodors Guide
says nudism is tourisms fastest-growing sector, and American
naturist clubs claim their enrollment is growing 20% annually.
The German airline OssiUrlaub.de offers nude chartered flights
to a Baltic sea resort, and todays lengthy luggage searches
at airports might steer travelers to destinations where they only
need carry-on towels and sunblock. Twenty million Europeans already
go to nude beaches and spas. Will the rest of the globe burn their
garments to revel in raw flesh and simple skin?